Young American: Ashley May

Ashley May likes the sand and sun just fine. But the 18-year-old Sipesville native said she'd trade a beach vacation for a trip to the Alaskan wilderness any day.

"The mountains and the Northern Lights . . . I'd really like to see," she said.

"I'm kind of the oddball," she added with a laugh, guessing that many of her friends would disagree with this pick. "Most people want to go to the beach. I'm an outdoorsy kind of person."

It's this outdoorsy streak that has May on a career path to become a veterinarian. Though technically still a senior at Somerset Area School District, she spends only half-days at the high school. The rest of her weekday afternoons and evenings are spent taking classes at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and working as a veterinary assistant at the Animal Medical Center in Somerset Township.

She has previous vet experience from working a few years for Dr. Keith Brown at the Brown Equine Hospital starting in 2007. It was Brown, she said, that helped inspire her to pursue a career as a veterinarian.

Advertisement

"He still tells me I'm crazy for wanting to do that," she said. "He's probably been the biggest role model."

May said she wants to specialize in dairy cows. Her motivation is part professional and part passionate: professional in the sense that this skill is in high demand, and passionate in that she loves these animals.

"Not of a lot of (vets specialize in this)," she said. "There's a low supply of food chain veterinarians, especially around here. And without food we're not going to live."

May said she wants to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia after finishing her pre-vet studies. This school was attended by both Brown and Dr. Vincent Svonavec, another area veterinarian.

"They spoke very highly of it," she said.

Her plan is to return and work in the Somerset region for at least a while. She said she may eventually look to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where some of her extended family resides.

According to May, her parents — Mark and Heather May — deserve most of the credit for her desire to become a vet.

"(My dad) pushed me the most, I think, to do that," she said. "My mom is the one who buys me the animals. So she's the one who started this whole rigmarole. But (my dad) pushes me a lot harder."

Throughout the years, May has shown pigs, goats and horses at the Somerset County Fair. She has been in 4-H since she was 9 years old and is the past president of the Somerset County Future Farmers of America. Currently she serves as president of the Somerset Area School District chapter.

"A lot of leadership skills I learned from that," she said. "That definitely had a big impact on what I chose to do."

As the reigning Somerset County fair queen, May will represent the region later this month at the Pennsylvania Fair Queen competition. She said she's being coached by Larry and Gale Hay of Berlin, parents of the last Somerset County girl to win the state competition.

"There hasn't been a Somerset County state fair queen since (2002)," she said. "I have high hopes. My mom really wants it more than I do, but that's to be expected I guess."

In order to win the competition, May will be asked to write essays, give speeches and take part in interviews. The upside: She'll be wearing a gown.

"That's always the fun part," she said of dressing up for these events.

May — an avid horseback rider — still plans to someday make a trip to Alaska, a place her grandparents visit at least once a year. She said she'd love to see a live moose in person.